More than 1,000 American rabbis have signed a joint letter welcoming refugees and noting a parallel to the late 1930s, when the United States barred most Jewish refugees. The letter noted that refugees are fleeing persecution, not committing it.

‘In 1939, our country could not tell the difference between an actual enemy and the victims of an enemy,’ the rabbis wrote. ‘In 2015, let us not make the same mistake.’